Lao Prime Minister Thoongsinh Thammavong has affirmed his government’s intention to facilitate Vietnamese businesses and localities’ effective investment in Laos.

Vietnam welcomes the participation of Japan, Canada, and Mexico in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement negotiations.

Senior Vietnamese and Cambodian officials gathered in HCM City on March 8 to prepare for the 7th Meeting on Cooperation and Development between their border provinces.  

Vietnam wants to cooperate with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) in building policies to develop industries meeting criteria for environmental protection, chemical management and human resources training.

The Algerian Embassy in Hanoi on March 8 laid a wreath at a memorial to 15 reporters and technicians who died in an air crash accident in Hanoi’s outlying Soc Son district nearly four decades ago.

Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh has reaffirmed Vietnam’s policy of strengthening ties with Cambodia, especially when the neighbouring country takes over the ASEAN chair in 2012.

Vietnam has succeeded in ensuring human rights for ethnic minority people, said a senior expert from the European Centre in Vietnam.

The so-called Human Rights Act provides completely inaccurate and biased information about Vietnam’s implementation of human rights issues.

Defence Minister, General Phung Quang Thanh has proposed Vietnamese and Italian defence ministries to further strengthen friendship and cooperation for mutual benefit.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has received Indian Minister of Commerce and Industry and Textiles Anand Sharman who is on a working visit to Vietnam.

Danish Parliament Chairman Mogens Lykketoft and his wife left Hanoi on March 7, successfully concluding their three-day visit to Vietnam.

Vietnam will work closely with other ASEAN countries to enhance solidarity within the bloc and add to the ASEAN Community’s strength. 

Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai has expressed hope that the United States will recognize Vietnam as a market economy and further tighten the bilateral relations between the two countries.

The Lao National Assembly Chairwoman Pany Yathotou received Chairwoman of the HCM City People’s Council Nguyen Thi Quyet Tam in Vientiane on March 7. 

Vietnamese and Ukrainian Foreign Ministers have agreed on specific measures to further promote bilateral cooperation between the two countries in the future.

On March 7, the People’s Procuracy Institutes of Vietnam’s Quang Binh province and Laos’s Khammuon province held talks and signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to elevate their cooperation to a new height.

A delegation from the Vietnam Ministry of Justice led by Minister Ha Hung Cuong is on a working visit to Laos from March 6-11 at the invitation of Lao Justice Minister Chalon Nhiapaoho.

A national conference opened in Hanoi on March 7 to review the Party Central Committee’s Resolution 3 on enhancing the Party leadership in combating corruption.

Mobile police force should continue to study and promote implementation of the Party and State’s guidelines on national security and social order.

President Truong Tan Sang on March 6 received a delegation of the Japan Business Federation (Keidanren) who visited Vietnam to boost cooperation in the fields of aviation, transportation, nuclear power and mining.

On March 6, a delegation from the National Assembly (NA) Standing Committee headed by NA Vice Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan visited the southern province of Kien Giang to supervise public investment in agriculture and rural development.

Vietnam wants to strengthen comprehensive cooperation with Libya, especially in economics, investment, trade and labour, said Deputy Foreign Minister Le Luong Minh.

A delegation from the Danish Parliament, led by its Speaker Mogens Lykketoft  on March 6 worked with a delegation from the Vietnamese National Assembly Committees, led by Tran Van Hang, Head of the Committee of External Relations.

More efforts needed to reduce bank interest rates, manage market-driven petrol prices, and accelerate the disbursement of foreign invested and ODA capital.

A Government representative will join heads of state of 53 countries and leaders of four international organisations at the second nuclear security summit to be held in Seoul, the Republic of Korea (RoK), on March 26-27.

Vietnam Forum was officially established by the Vietnamese Embassy in the US on March 5.

Senior Lieutenant General Do Ba Ty who is Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam People’s Army and Deputy Minister of National Defence has received Matthieu Borsboom, Rear Admiral of the Commander of Royal Netherlands Navy on a visit to Vietnam from March 3-5.

Vietnam and Singapore have agreed to deal with issues arising from the cooperation process with the aim of boosting bilateral ties in education, training, agriculture, tourism and cross-cultural exchange.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung on March 5 extended his condolences over a recent train crash in Szczekociny, Poland, to his Polish counterpart, Donald Tusk.

Vietnam congratulated Russia for holding a successful presidential election and to Vladimir Putin for his triumph, said Vietnamese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Luong Thanh Nghi.